With its 8-0 win over the 2019 champion Rowan Little League, Pitt County Girls Softball Little League (Winterville, N.C.) was crowned the North Carolina State Little League Softball® Champion, earning its spot at the 2022 Little League Softball World Series (LLSWS) as the North Carolina (Host) Team.
First chartered in 2021, Pitt County Girls Softball Little League may be new to the Little League® program but is familiar with the home of the LLSWS, playing less than 10 miles down the road from its home in Greenville, as they get set to welcome 11 other teams from around the world to their home county and Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park this summer.
With first-round matchups for the 2022 LLSWS set, Pitt County Girls Softball Little League will square off in the Orange Bracket against the West Region in Game 3 on Tuesday, August 9, at 4 p.m. ET.
As the runner-up in the North Carolina State Tournament, Rowan Little League will still have the opportunity to compete for a spot in Greenville through the Southeast Region Tournament as the North Carolina representative. Since the tournament began in 1974, a team from North Carolina has represented the Southeast Region nine times, including a pair of championships in 2015 and 2019.
This will be the second LLSWS in Greenville and the first year with an expanded field of 12 teams and international participants. In 2019, Little League International announced the expansion of both the Little League Baseball World Series and the LLSWS and in early 2020 designated Greenville as the new home of the LLSWS with North Carolina receiving an automatic entry into the field. With committed volunteers and community support, Pitt County Girls Softball Little League was established the following year to provide girls with game in the Greenville community more opportunities to have a Little League experience.
In addition to the four international regions (Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa, Canada, and Latin America), the expanded U.S. teams include the new Mid-Atlantic, New England, Northwest, and West Regions and rounded out with the existing Central, Southeast, and Southwest.
The international region champions who earn their spot in Greenville will be announced as they are identified at LittleLeague.org, and fans are encouraged to watch the U.S. Region Tournaments on the ESPN Family of Networks as part of the #SummerOfSoftball to follow the action and see who the remaining Region Champions will be. More information about the 2022 Little League World Series tournaments, including full schedules and downloadable brackets, can be found at LittleLeague.org/WorldSeries.